Did you know that your home office is costing you tons of money to operate? Well maybe not tons of money but you should be aware that when working from home there will be extra expenses incurred with having a home office, running additional equipment, and resources that normally wouldn’t be used if you are not home during the day.

Working from home can be liberating and fun but there are a few things you can do to minimize your carbon effect and help keep those additional costs in check.

HEATING AND COOLING: when you are home during the day you will need to heat and cool the home like an office. But the trick here is to not heat the whole home just the area you work in. There are a few tricks you can use to help with this.

Get a programmable thermostat to keep the house at a lower “out of the house” temperature. Even if you are home you should do this. There is no use heating the whole home when you are not using all but a few rooms.

Then get a ceiling fan or space heater to cool and heat the room you are in. There is no use wasting energy on the whole house when you spend most of your time in one room. Also having a dedicated work space is paramount to the work at home solution so you can focus on work when you are in the work space.

KEEP YOUR EQUIPMENT IN TIP TOP SHAPE: you will probably have a laptop, router and telecommunications equipment, and printers along with other office electronics. All of these need to be maintained to stay in working condition and to avoid costly repair or replacement costs. For computers you need to keep the running cool so an upgraded power supply for a desktop or a chilling pad for a laptop will make all the difference in the world. Also keep the dust off your machines, constantly blowing them and cleaning them with compressed air.

Make sure routers are secured with tough passwords that you change often to avoid any interruptions in service due to a hijacked router. Make sure your modem, router, and any other items used for internet service are on an uninterruptible power supply. So if the power goes out you can save your information if you are on a web based application. Also make sure you connect your desktop to this unless you use a laptop.

Run your printer through the alignment and cleaning process often. By keeping it clean you will make it last longer. We have used a $99.00 printer for several years now and save a lot of money by keeping it maintained.

Make sure you keep other electronics clean, out of harms way and protected from damage. By maintaining your equipment you should get several years of life from them saving you money in the long run.

SOME OTHER MONEY SAVING TIPS: we have all heard of vampire electronics, you know the ones that steal your valuable electricity even when you think they are off. They can use a lot of power just sucking energy while not in use. So you should unplug all of those when not in use. But that option is hard if you have a lot of items. So the best solution is to get a surge protector to help protect your valuable electronics from dirty electrical pulses and turn everything off with one switch and then you can unplug that if you want.

Also you can change out all of your lights in your home office with high energy saving light bulbs. You would be surprised how much energy these will save. And finally look around and see if there are any areas where you can improve the energy being wasted in your home. Use only energy star compliant electronics, make sure your home is sealed and well insulated, keep windows covered or tinted, and minimize energy use during peak hours.

CONCLUSION: so working at home can be a rewarding experience just make sure you are aware that you will be using more resources and they will cost more money. How much money you use is really up to you. So use our money saving ideas and make your home office energy efficient, your wallet will thank you!